By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said the Davis administration’s decision to give a no-bid contract to Colina Insurance Limited for services under the Bahamas Travel Health Visa programme “was more than hypocritical”.

He said it is not fair to compare that contract award with his administration’s decision to give Kanoo Pays a no-bid contract for payment processing services under the same scheme.

“You (are) trying to compare apples with grapes,” he said. “I think it’s more than hypocritical because we were in an emergency situation when we did that, they were not in an emergency situation when they did this.”

Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper said on Tuesday there was no tendering process for the insurance contract because of time constraints. He said the previous provider, CG Atlantic, was not forthcoming with details about the performance of its programme and Colina offered the government a better rate.

 Dr Minnis said: “I see them say Atlantic did not answer certain questions or whatever, but only time will tell whether Atlantic did submit or not under these new circumstances.”

 In his audit of the visa programme released last week, Auditor General Terrance Bastian criticised the lack of competitive bidding that has characterised the visa programme since its inception. In addition to the insurance and payment processing services, there was no competitive bidding originally for companies that completed the software for the online platform, provided rapid antigen tests on day five of arrival and managed the approved testing labs and Day 5 tests.

 Mr Bastian acknowledged the time pressures officials faced in executing the visa programme, but said the services should have gone out to tender, particularly the insurance service given the significant costs associated with that service.

 Yesterday, Dr Minnis said: “When we did that, the contract, we had two weeks to open the country. We had already sent out notices that we were opening the country. We had a decision to make. If we didn’t open, having sent out notices around the world, The Bahamas would get a black eye and it would set our industry backwards and it would subsequently affect our economy moving forward. We had to make quick decisions within two weeks.

 “We had called around, all the various different insurance companies, inclusive of BAF. Nobody wanted to bid. We subsequently called Atlantic and Atlantic was interested and they submitted and that’s how we ended up with Atlantic. We had to do that route because we had to get the country open and, yes, we had to utilise the Promotion of Tourism Act to ensure that we were still within the framework of the law.

“Now, they have gone for a no-bid, they had sufficient time, unlike us, we were in an emergency situation. Two, they would know exactly what Atlantic is being paid in terms of insurance and therefore they could cherry pick and pick a company and say can you beat what Atlantic is doing.”